For Midweek course

This two year degree level course with and optional 3rd year clinical attachment is a practical professional training course to enable students to achieve high standards of competence, safety and confidence as practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

There is a further option to do this course as an Acupuncture and TCM Diagnosis course without Chinese Herbal Medicine.

Students will be applying TCM diagnosis and practicing on each other under supervision in a clinical environment from their very first lesson as well as being taught the theoretical understanding of what they are learning because TCM is a practical subject and is best learnt in a practical way.

There are 10 weekend modules (20 contact days) in the first year and the same in the second year. Students can begin the course on any module and provided that all 10 (2 day) modules are successfully completed they can then proceed to the second year which has a similar continual arrangement.

The ‘Ethos of the College’ is to ‘fit treatments to patients’ rather than ‘patients to treatments’ thus depending on Traditional TCM diagnostic skills to make patient assessments rather than follow theories which may pre anticipate a patients condition. Acurate assessment is the key to sucessful and effective treatment, this is confirmed through Pulse, Face, Tongue, Eye and other Traditional Chinese methods of examination with targeted questioning about the patients condition and medical history.

The Clinical training aspects of the course are taught by Paul Brecher BA FAcS MPCHM Principal of The College of Chinese Medicine on Wednesdays and by Paul Robin Head TCM at The College of Chinese medicine and Chairman of the Acupuncture Society on Thursdays.

The weekend 1st and 2nd year classes in Acupuncture, Herbal Medicine and Diagnosis are run by Paul Robin

This object of this course is to achieve standards set out by the Acupuncture Society Accreditation process and is a professional training diploma course in Chinese acupuncture, herbal medicine and diagnosis, the emphasis is on achieving set standards of practical and clinicial training. Students will be treating each other during the modules and through clinical experiance combined with TCM theory to learn practical clinical skills in there correct setting.

The course will cover chinese anatomy, meridians and points, pathology, pulse reading and analysis, tongue, face, Chinese irridology and skin diagnosis, Auricular, Orthopaedic and Cosmetic Acupuncture, knowledge of around 200 herbal medicines and thier appropriate use in clinical practice. Students will be tested on the contents of each module.

This course is taught in the same practical way that a practitioner would treat their patients, this is the way masters taught students in china through the centuries.

We hear the patient describe their symptoms and explain any western medical diagnosis they may have been given, then we use traditional chinese diagnostic methods to identify signs and formulate acupuncture and herbal formulars appropriate to the condition, either herbs, acupuncture or both.

The whole process is discussed in depth during the session.

Treatment formulations take into account what the patient has told the practitoner and what the practitoner has discovered through TCM diagnosis. By being taught how to incorporate all this information together the student can see the big picture from the onset.

There are 20 Lessons grouped together into 10 modules in each of the first and second years. The lectures are on weekends, each lesson lasts 6 hours, from 10 am till 5 pm Saturday and Sunday with a one hour break for lunch.

Qualification:

Each module will include clinical and theoretic training in acupuncture, herbal medicine and chinese diagnosis and chinese anatomy/physiology.

The course is designed on a modular basis to allow for our roll on roll off entrance policy, applicants can join the course starting on any module.

Short written test and oral questioning on the main acupoints and herbs of the previous module and relevant homework assignments are given each month around understanding the modern and traditional concepts of the topics covered each month.
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The natural proceses of the organ that the module is teaching and its relationship with the other organs.

The pathway of the meridian and its connections with other organs and meridians. The points that are used in clinical practice on that meridian, their location, the correct needle length and depth of insertion and the correct direction.

For excessive conditions the needle is inserted against the direction of the energy flow in that meridian, for deficiency conditions the needle is inserted in the direction of the energy flow of the meridian.

Also taught are:

The relevant needle manipulation techniques for each point

Diseases, illnesses and injuries that can affect each organ/meridian.

The pulse, tongue and face diagnosis that relates to each organ/meridian.

Common acupuncture and herbal formulations used to treat ailments in each organ/meridian system.

The medicinal use, action and contra indication of each herbal medicine and its common use is taught as well as how the herbs work together in a formula.

Successful graduates will be awarded a Degree level Diploma in Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine and will be entitled to use the initials Dip Ac TCM after thier names and will be accepted as a members of the Acupuncture Society.

Members of the Acupuncture Society, and are also entitled to use the initials MAcS TCM after their names. There is an annual subscription fee of £100 and insurance can be arranged for around £89 per annum.

Short written and oral testing on the main content of previous module, monthly home assignments researching the modern Western and traditional Chinese aspects of each topic with class discussions

2 Year Acupuncture Course Objectives

To gain knowlege of the 14 main meridians thier pathways, directions subpathways and connections to zhang and fu paired organs and bowels

To know main most effective points on each meridian how to combine them for most useful therapeutic effects, to understand when to apply reinforcing and reducing directional stimulation and manipulations

Prospective students should be Qualified in anatomy and physiology level 3 or above (if not go to the following link for courses online from 99 dollars in America or between £250-400 for a UK based one

The list below is a student safety guide used prior undertaking a CCM course. We aim to protect the health and safety of students in training and also those they practise on during and after the course.

If you suffer from any of the conditions listed below or other conditions which have not been included that you feel are relevant, please inform us prior to class treatments so that we can assess you suitability for such treatment.

Paul Brecher FAcSMPCHM

Principal of The College of Chinese Medicine

Paul Brecher studied at Fook Sang College and later at The College of Chinese Medicine, he was also apprentice to Dr Ac Bernard Kai Lam Lee and Paul Robin.

He has been teaching and practicing Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine for over 16 years and Chinese Martial Arts and Healing Arts for 30 years. Teaching Qi Gong and Tai Chi Chuan, Bagua Chang and Wutang Shan Chuan. His ten instructional DVDs and eight books on the Chinese healing and martial arts have been translated into numerous languages and are on sale internationally.

Paul edited the English language version of the Chinese governments Qi Gong book – Knocking at the Gate of Life – and has been in the national press, on radio and on TV many times explaining and demonstrating the many great benefits of the Chinese martial and healing arts.

He has been developing the College syllabus for many years and has refined it into a systematic practical student friendly form.

Paul lectures at the College of Chinese Medicine and is also a specialist TCM consultant at the Clinic of the College of Chinese Medicine.

Interviewed by Sky TV News on 9 July 2004 to help explain to the public more about Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Paul Robin FAcSMPCHMMCAA

Head of the College of Chinese Medicine TCM faculty Chairman of the Acupuncture Society

Paul Robin has been teaching and practicing Traditional Chinese medicine for over 20 years. He was trained in the Fook Sang style by Dr Ac Bernard Kai Lam Lee (who was a TCM specialist brought over from China by the British Acupuncture Association) and qualified in 1987. Paul was Dr Lees full time apprentice and assistant for 9 years during which time he conducted research and lectured at the Fook Sang courses held at Imperial College and was President of the Fook Sang Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Practitioners Association.

In 1994 Paul founded the College of Chinese Medicine and some years later founded the Acupuncture Society in order to establish Chinese style Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine in the UK.

He represents the Acupuncture Society in the Acupuncture Stakeholders Group which is working with leading members of the profession toward the future regulation of Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine and preparing for the professions inclusion into the NHS.

Paul lectures at the College of Chinese Medicine and is also a specialist TCM consultant at the Clinic of the College of Chinese Medicine in Harley Street.

Please can you explain the difference between the four main courses you teach at The College of Chinese Medicine ?

Answer

Course One:

The main course lasts two years and you are taught Acupuncture, TCM Diagnosis and Chinese Herbal Medicine. This course is taught on weekends, twelve weekends in the first year and another twelve in the second year, one weekend a month. With this course there is an additional option to attend a student clinic once a week, on wednesdays in the first year and thursdays in the second year. On successful completion of the course you are awarded your diploma qualification and can then apply for membership of the Acupuncture Society http://www.acupuncturesociety.org.uk and commence work as a practitioner. This two year weekend course costs £2500 per year, so it is £5000 for the whole course. On this course there is an additional £50 a day charge for attending the wednesday or thursday student clinic.The first year of the course and the wednesday student clinic are both taught in East Finchley. The second year of the course and the thursday student clinic are both taught at UCL International Hall Russell Square London.

Course Two:

This is exactly the same as Course One except you do not study Chinese Herbal Medicine.

Course Three:

This is called the apprenticeship course, it is exactly the same content as Course One but it is not taught on weekends, it is taught only on the wednesday clinics in the first year and the thursday clinics in the second year. The apprenticeship course is also a 2 year course.

Course Four:

This is exactly the same as Course Three except you do not study Chinese Herbal Medicine.

With all these four courses if the student has completed the training and passed all the exams they will be awarded with their qualification and can then apply for membership of the Acupuncture Society and commence work as a practitioner. However if they have done two years of training and their standard is still below what is required they will be asked to attend further training until they are at the required level of competence.

Question

Do I have to wait until September to start one of the four courses described above ?

At present any qualified provider (which includes our graduates) can practice Acupuncture within the NHS, provided that the Doctors Running the practice agree and are prepared to recommend you. Monyt graduates of our courses practice in health centres, sports centres, in private clinics, in their own business premises or home clinics. Insurance is available for graduates of our College. Our graduates are entitled to join the Acupuncture Society wihich is a leading professional body.

Question

Once I have been qualified at your College I can practice acupuncture anywhere in the UK but can I practice anywhere in the world ?

Answer

Every country has its own criteria, for example in some countries you must be a Doctor first to be able to practice acupuncture. In some other countries you may have to take an additional exam to prove that you are at a suitable level of competence. Please contact the embassy of the country you are intending to practice in to find out what their requirements are. Generally Eu law allows those who can legally practice in one member state to be able to practice in an other, but to be sure you would need to check with the appropriate officials in that country.

Question

If I train at your college will I be able to practice once government regulation comes into effect ?

Answer

Back in 2011 it was decided by the government that there in not going to be regulation of the Acupuncture profession. A written Ministerial Statement (16th February 2011) from The Secretary of State for Health says that acupuncture in the UK is going to remain self regulating as it is now.

Question

What is the difference between your College and a University degree course ?

Answer

We are a practical training College, our courses are are Diplomas accredited by the Acupuncture Society and some are at degree level, On completion enable you to be able to practice acupuncture with a high level of professional expertise, competence and confidence. Many University degree courses are often philosophical, theoretical, academic, and generally not practical. Some have been undersubscribed and have closed their courses due to lack of student numbers. Our degree level courses are accreditied by the Acupuncture Society rather than a University, we use many practical methods to teach both theory and clinical practice. We also run Diploma and CPD courses.

At University you spend the majority of your time writing essays and reading books, attending periferal subjects and discussing complex philosophical theories with limited practical experiance. At our College you spend the majority of your time learning useful acupuncture techniques and applying them right from the start. Our ethos is to install confidence and to teach practical theories which lead to effective clinical treatment.

University degree courses teach many acupuncture points, which in reality are not often used as they may be in over vulnerable anatomical locations or over embarrassing areas, some of these also may not work very well. At our college we focus on points which are actually commonly used in clinical practice. These points are the ones which are safe, easy to access and most effective. Most Universities in China and Uk have too many students in the class which is why they need to concentrate on Academic study. Acupuncture is a practitcal clinical skill which has been traditionaly taught for many centuries and the skills have been handed down from master to pupil. This is the preferred method of our College and classes are kept small and practical to acheive this.

Chinese herbal medicine has been recently taught in Universities to promote the use of patent remedies which are now restricted by EU law. At our college we have always taught individual herb knowlege. Herbs which are non toxic, cheap, easy to obtain, legal, effective and in common use in clinical practice, moreover we focus to teach the students the abillity to formulate their own formulas tailor made to the patients according to TCM and western diagnosis. These formulas are regularly modified to ensure that they are safe and not presenting unwanted side effects. Treatments made in this way are not subject to EU restrictions as they are made up by a qualified practitioner and not sold as a herbal product. Our college has always been teaching in this way and we disagree with the use of patent remedies.

As we use modern and direct methods of teaching and because both herbal medicines and acupuncture share the same TCM and western theory, we can train you to be a practitioner of both subjects in two years. We do however offer the option of an extra year for those who wish to develope their practical skills further in clinical environment.

On a University degree course you may not have much experience with actually doing acupuncture, at our college you will be doing acupuncture in every lesson, even from your very first day.

Many students who have done Uni course know a lot about interesting but non relevant subjects such as: the history of China, the Chinese language, Chinese philosophy and complex abstract theories from ancient manuscripts that are not actually used in practical acupuncture. Many of these do not translate well into English and only serve to mystify Chinese medicine and confuse students

At our College students are trained how to construct an acupuncture and herbal formula from diagnosing the patient through the Pulse, Face, Tongue, eye , also using western concept and symptomology, they are trained in how to acupuncture the patient with the correct length needles inserted to the correct depth at the correct angle to achieve the desired healing result. We teach many advanced methods such as acupuncture of the spine and formulas that combine both re enforcing and reducing acupuncture simultaneously. These advanced practical skills are generally not taught at Uni , but are taught at our college as our college ethos encourages this.

Question

Do you do five elements acupuncture ? I have heard of some other colleges offering courses in five elements acupuncture are you a five elements college ?

Answer

There are many principles in acupuncture, 5 elements, blood, jing and qi, yin and yang, 8 diagnostic principles, hollow and solid organs, 12 meridians and 8 extra meridians, syndromes etc. At our college we teach all the above and much more, they are all important components of acupuncture, it would not make sense to prioritise one over the others as they all are equally important parts of the whole. However we teach these theories from a practical point of view not as only as abstract philosophies.

Question

You say your course is practical not philosophical, what does this actually mean ?

Answer

Other colleges and universities will teach that a certain acupuncture point should be used because it is in a certain category:

It is a mother point

It is a son point

It is an element point wood/fire/earth/metal/water

It is on a meridian which relates to an element wood/fire/earth/metal/water

It is a spring/stream/river/sea point

It is a xi cleft point

It is a yuan source point

It is a luo connecting point

It is a ghost point

It is a window to heaven point

etc

At our college we teach that for a certain condition points should be chosen because of their actual medical effect:

This point clears inflammation

This point brings down temperature

This point strengthens the respiratory system

This point strengthens the digestive system

This point strengthens the immune system

This point relaxes the piriformis muscle to reduce sciatica

This point treats myasthenia (muscle weakness)

This point regulates the cardiac nerve

This point clears migraine

This point is for insomnia
All this is formulated with the patients constitution, and medical conditions in mind

Question

You say your course teaches Chinese acupuncture, what is the difference between Chinese and English acupuncture ?

Answer

Western acupuncture generally only uses a very few needles, maybe four or five pairs of point will be used in one treatment which are generally formulated on five element principles to balance qi or are musculo skeletal based. In Chinese acupuncture we use as many needles as is necessary to treat the patient who may often have multiple conditions.

*Please note that this degree level diploma course is accredited by the acupuncture society and not by a university

Please submit this form and the course tutor will respond to your email to inform you of whether you have been accepted. If you have any queries about this course please contact
Paul Brecher on 07534 493 888 or email: paul@taiji.net (weekday or Wednesday courses) or Contact Paul Robin acusoc@yahoo.co.uk(weekend or Thursday courses) call 07734668402

Successful graduates from this course can apply for membership of the Acupuncture Society are entitled to use the abbreviations MAcS TCMafter their names the society can also arrange professional indemnity insurance at a very competitive members preferential rate

all members must be insured and log 15 hours of CPD per year (8 hours courses/seminars/workshops and 7 hours home study/research)